Scituate water rates to increase 20 percent

Thursday

Oct 11, 2018 at 10:05 PMOct 12, 2018 at 12:20 AM

SCITUATE — Water customers will see a 20 percent increase in their water rate starting with their second-quarter bill.

For the average household, using 7,500 cubic feet of water per year, the increase will add up to an additional $66 per year for fiscal 2019, according to Town Accountant Nancy Holt. The increase is in effect for bills issued after Oct. 2.

“The town needed to increase the water rate by 20 percent in order to pay for the current costs and expenses incurred by the water department for the past improvements to the water system,” said Selectmen Chairman John Danehey.

This does not include continued water improvements the town plans to undertake, which includes pipe replacement, water treatment improvement, as well as manganese eradication, he added. Danehey said the infrastructure is in its current state because discounted rates that the town had been charging for decades.

“Had the rates been increased incrementally in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, and had the town methodically replaced pipes and made other water system improvements, we would not be in the situation we are in today,” Danehey said. “Unfortunately, those decisions were not made and when you have deferred maintenance across the entire water system, people who live in town today are confronted with higher rates and continued brown water."

The sewer rate, which is different from the water rate, will increase by 5 percent, Holt said.

“Both water and sewer have increasing debt service due to financing of capital improvements,” she said. “Water specifically has the final portion of the $22 million water pipe replacement project to be financed.”

In order to determine the amount of the increase, Holt said internal studies of upcoming costs and estimated revenue were completed in conjunction with utilizing the services of a consultant to conduct a rate study.

“This increase will cause the Scituate rates to be higher than most of its neighbors,” Holt said.

In the past, Scituate had one of the lowest water rates on the South Shore.

“Rate payers in Scituate have been paying a rate for a number of years that has been less than the true cost for the maintenance of the current water system, let alone for trying to pay for the necessary improvements,” Danehey said.